.

She stooped down hastily and scanned the ground. There she indeed saw a
pair of hands hauling at the dirt where the sod had been displaced.
Softly, in a whisper like a breath, she said, "Hey!"

The dim hands were drawn hastily under the barn. The girl reflected for
a moment. Then she stooped and whispered: "Hey! It's me!"

After a time there was a resumption of the digging. The ghostly hands
began once more their cautious mining. She waited. In hollow
reverberations from the interior of the barn came the frequent sounds of
old Santo's lazy movements. The sentry conversed with the prisoner.

At last the girl saw a head thrust slowly from under the beam. She
perceived the face of one of the miraculous soldiers from the feed box.
A pair of eyes glintered and wavered, then finally settled upon her, a
pale statue of a girl. The eyes became lit with a kind of humorous
greeting. An arm gestured at her.

Stooping, she breathed, "All right." The man drew himself silently back
under the beam. A moment later the pair of hands resumed their cautious
task. Ultimately the head and arms of the man were thrust strangely from
the earth. He was lying on his back. The girl thought of the dirt in his
hair. Wriggling slowly and pushing at the beam above him he forced his
way out of the curious little passage. He twisted his body and raised
himself upon his hands. He grinned at the girl and drew his feet
carefully from under the beam. When he at last stood erect beside her,
he at once began mechanically to brush the dirt from his clothes with
his hands. In the barn the sentry and his prisoner were evidently
engaged in an argument.

The girl and the first miraculous soldier signalled warily. It seemed
that they feared that their arms would make noises in passing through
the air. Their lips moved, conveying dim meanings.

In this sign language the girl described the situation in the barn. With
guarded motions, she told him of the importance of absolute stillness.
He nodded, and then in the same manner he told her of his two companions
under the barn floor. He informed her again of their wounded state, and
wagged his head to express his despair. He contorted his face, to tell
how sore were their arms; and jabbed the air mournfully, to express
their remote geographical position.

This signalling was interrupted by the sound of a body being dragged or
dragging itself with slow, swishing sound under the barn. The sound was
too loud for